Sure, the pass-through ethernet jacks are significantly easier to terminate than the old-fashioned kind, but smoothing out and lining up eight wires in the right order is still fiddly as heck.

But if you’re installing fixed network wiring, you want to get yourself some of these beauties:

Snap to fit keystone

(From Connectec UK, other sources are available.)

Pull the wires through the colour coded slots in the comb, snip them to length with an ordinary pair of cutters, snap it shut, job jobbed. I’ve only done a couple so far, but they worked first time and gave gigabit rates without me having to undo and reterminate anything.

Having successfully used a 1m long SDS drill bit to run some ethernet in from the garage, the next mission is to fish through the ceiling to get from the hallway into my office. I might even make a YouTube video if that goes well.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to oil my huge bit…